Conventional digital printers and copiers allow print jobs to be transmitted from a client PC over a network or other communication connections to such printer or copier. (In the following, the term “printer” shall be used for digital printers and digital copiers.) Professional printers allow the user selecting a multitude of settings, e.g. input tray, paper size, or finishing options. This selection is performed in a printer driver which is called when the user attempts to submit a print job from an application on the client PC. Settings like the input tray can be selected for the whole print job or individually for each page. When the printer driver sends the print job to the printer, the data in the print job comprise also the instructions corresponding to the settings selected by the user.
Modern printer drivers provide a number of user selectable settings. Such settings can be e.g. input tray settings, finishing settings as staple, punch, and fold as well as screening settings, i.e. settings specifying how to represent grey or color values by the printer.
Although conventional printer drivers allow combining many settings, not all theoretically possible combinations are valid. For example, long edge stapling and short edge punching are not simultaneously possible for mechanical reasons and are therefore restricted.
Modern printer drivers recognize restricted combinations and output a warning and/or suggestions for allowed alternative combinations. The identification of restricted combinations and the optional suggestion of valid alternatives is known by the term ‘constraints’.
Various constraints depend on the mechanical configuration of the printer. E.g., if the printer is not equipped with a staple or punch device, the corresponding settings are not allowed.
Modern printer drivers contain a logic to query such mechanical configurations. Depending on the results of such a query the printer drivers tailor the user interfaces to the constraints. Such a query can be done via a network, e.g. using the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP).
Modern printer drivers further provide the possibility to use default settings. Default settings determine the properties of the printer driver and the settings of the printer, as long as no different user-defined selection was made. If e.g. a printer supports resolutions of 600 dpi or 1200 dpi, one of them must be set as default, if no user-specific other selection was made.
Default settings are a part of the driver software. They are defend after the installation, but can be changed by the user afterwards. The definition of defaults minimizes the risk of errors and increases the reliability of the print workflow.
High volume printers are commonly used in networks with a high number of users. Companies providing such printer networks usually prefer their own default settings which are to be applied by all users. Although it is possible to adjust these default settings on each client computer individually, this takes time and is therefore expensive. It would be desirable for an administrator to determine these central settings in a simple way for all client computers. Existing solutions do not provide this possibility.
As mentioned, settings may depend on constraints. E.g. the tone curve, i.e. the curve defining how greyscales are printed, may be defined differently for each resolution. A resolution of 600 dpi may require a curve A whereas a resolution of 1200 dpi requires a different curve B. A disadvantage of existing solutions is the necessity for the user to set these combinations limited by constraints manually.
The German patent application DE 698 19 049 T2 describes a method for managing network devices including access control. However, it does not describe receiving information from a printer and configuring a printer driver correspondingly.
The European patent application EP 1 431 909 B1 describes a method for setting parameters in a printer. However, it does not describe receiving parameters from a printer and performing corresponding settings on the client PC.
The German patent application DE 199 22 118 A1 describes the use of executable files on a network server which can be used by a client to configure the network server. As this method assumes web browser or similar technology, it cannot be used in a printer driver.